Gilligan’s Island was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1960s. However, the beloved
comedic program ended up coming to an end earlier than expected as a result
of favoritism at the CBS network in favor of the Western series Gunsmoke.
Although Gilligan’s Island sadly ended its original run after only three seasons,
the series was later revived in the form of various made-for-television features.
The final episode of Gilligan’s Island was its 98th episode, titled “Gilligan the Goddess”. The
episode revolved around the plot of a native chief trying to take one of the show’s iconic castaways
as his bride. Join Facts Verse as we explore the scene that took Gilligan’s Island off the air.
On April 17, 1967, the final episode of Gilligan’s Island premiered on the CBS network. The episode’s
name was “Gilligan the Goddess”, and it was the very last episode of the show’s third season.
The show was expected to be renewed for a fourth, to the point where many of the show’s
cast members had bought new houses closer to the studio so that they’d have an easier
time showing up for work during filming of the next season. However, favoritism from within
the studio ended up causing Gilligan’s Island to end its run early. After only
three seasons and 98 episodes, Gilligan’s Island’s run was over by the summer of 1967.
Given the fact that the creative team behind Gilligan’s Island didn’t
even realize that “Gilligan the Goddess” was going to be the final
episode of the show, the episode didn’t feature an exceptionally ceremonious send-off
for the castaways of the titular island. Instead, the episode played out largely like any other,
with one of the few notable exceptions of the episode being the fact that it was the
only episode of the series to feature all of the male castaways in drag.
In the episode, Gilligan is toiling away on a project on the beach at the lagoon when a
native chief by the name of King Kaliwani sails ashore and begins talking about picking a bride
out of one of the show’s female castaways. The castaways are initially wary of King Kaliwani,
but they warm up to the idea of continuing communications when the character of the
Professor finds a lighter aboard the boat that the native chief used to sail ashore.
The castaways quickly realize that the presence of this lighter means that King Kaliwani has contact
with the outside world, and that means that he can possibly get one or all of them rescued.
After learning that King Kaliwani has contact with the outside
world and might possibly be able to get them rescued, the female castaways of the island begin
trying to seduce the native chief in order to secure the title of his wife for
themselves. However, they decide that they aren’t that anxious to become the chief’s
wife after all once they realize that said wife’s fate is to be tossed into a volcano!
Upon realizing the fate of the native chief’s bride-to-be, the male
castaways of the island attempt to defend the female castaways by standing their ground
against the native chief and his minions. However, the natives prove too strong.
Realizing that they’re going to have to give the native chief what he wants somehow, the
male castaways then all dress up in drag in an attempt to try and trick the native
chief into choosing one of them as his bride. Gilligan proves to be the only male castaway
that can successfully pass as a woman, meaning he has to be the one to go off with the chief.
With the new name of “Gilliana”, Gilligan goes off to be the new bride of King Kaliwani. The
native chief proves so taken by his new bride that he decides he’d rather
keep Gilliana for himself than throw her into the aforementioned volcano. Fearing
his future as the bride of the native chief, Gilligan eventually manages to
escape from his captivity, leaving his female disguise where King Kaliwani can find it.
Upon seeing the female disguise that Gilligan has left behind, King Kaliwani becomes convinced that
the gods have taken his new bride forcefully. Of course, in King Kaliwani’s eyes, this has
occurred as a result of the native chief refusing to sacrifice her. Because of this,
the native chief and his minions decide to run away from the island, fearing further retribution.
As they are heading out to sea, the character of Mr. Howell pleads with them from ashore to
come back, and this scene ended up being the very last of the original show. If you’re enjoying this
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“Gilligan the Goddess” ended up being the last episode of Gilligan’s Island’s original run,
much to the chagrin and surprise of the show’s creative team! The show had been a
massive hit up until that point and had just been given a new timeslot and the promise of a fourth
season. However, this fourth season didn’t end up coming to fruition for a decidedly unfair reason.
The new timeslot given to Gilligan’s Island had been the timeslot of the Western series Gunsmoke,
which had just been canceled by the CBS network after 12 seasons. However, the executive who made
the decision to cancel Gunsmoke was unaware that it was one of his wife’s favorite shows.
The head of the network’s wife had been on vacation when Gunsmoke was canceled,
and she was not at all happy when she came back to realize that one of her favorite
Western series had been taken off the air. Gunsmoke was subsequently brought back,
and Gilligan’s Island was put to an end to make room for it.
After the debacle involving Gunsmoke and Gilligan’s Island, Gunsmoke went on to last
for another eight seasons while Gilligan’s Island was forced to prematurely come to
an end at only three seasons and 98 episodes. The series Gunsmoke had arguably already worn out its
promise and then some by the time of Gilligan’s Island’s cancellation, whereas Gilligan’s Island
still had plenty of steam left in its engines. The creative team behind Gilligan’s Island had
high hopes for the series’ fourth season. Although the show was revived in the form
of various made-for-television features over a decade after its cancellation, fans
have always speculated about what could have been if the CBS executives had stayed true to
their guns and allowed Gilligan’s Island to stay on the air instead of Gunsmoke.
Before Gilligan’s Island was revived in the form of various made-for-television features starting
in 1978, it was adapted into a Saturday-morning cartoon series in 1974. The series was called The
New Adventures of Gilligan, but it has never been considered to be canon in relation to the original
show and subsequent reunion features. Instead, the first canon continuation of the original series
was 1978’s Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, which was then proceeded by such subsequent features as
1979’s The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island and 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on
Gilligan’s Island. In 1982, Gilligan’s Island inspired a second animated series, this time
in space! A Saturday-morning cartoon series by the name of Gilligan’s Planet premiered that year,
though ended up only lasting for one season of 13 episodes. Besides its odd premise of taking
the concept of Gilligan’s Island into space, the series was perhaps most notable for being the
very last Saturday-morning cartoon series to be produced by legendary animation studio Filmation.
Despite the fact that Gilligan’s Island ended after only three seasons, the show and its concept
have continued to live on in the hearts and minds of the television audience, even outside of the
reunion features and subsequent animated series. The show’s premise was an incredibly relatable
one, with creator Sherwood Schwartz having claimed that he came up with the question after being
asked during his high school years what items he would take with him on a deserted island.
Sherwood reportedly received the prompt as part of a public speaking class, and it stuck with him.
When it came time to pitch Gilligan’s Island to the networks,
Sherwood Schwartz also saw the concept’s value as a satire relating to class and politics.
The concept of Gilligan’s Island sees several people from largely different walks of life
being forced to live together on a deserted island. These people normally wouldn’t interact
in the real world but are forced to make things work as a team due to their unique circumstances.
Through the interactions of these drastically different classes of people,
the television audience was able to get some commentary about major issues of the time.
CBS wasn’t initially all that excited about Sherwood’s concept but ended up showing a pilot
for Gilligan’s Island to several test audiences that seemed to eat it right up. The CBS network
then realized that they had a potential hit on their hands, though some changes were
made between the time of the pilot and the first official episode of the show. The pilot featured
some characters played by different actors, and also featured some entirely different characters!
Gilligan’s Island was originally filmed on location in Malibu,
but the fog made filming impossible. Because of this, filming had to be
moved to a set that was constructed on the CBS studio lot. Even after filming
had been moved to the studio, it was said that the water of the lagoon set could oftentimes
get so cold during the winter months that Bob Denver had to wear a wetsuit under his normal
outfit. After all these years, people are still revisiting Gilligan’s Island, and they’re always
disappointed when they realize what an abrupt end the show comes to after only 98 episodes.
Although Gilligan’s Island ended up being revived in the form of various
made-for-television features, that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about what could have been
if CBS executives had allowed the show to blossom into its proposed fourth season. Now it’s time to
hear from you: did you know that Gilligan’s Island was taken off the air to make room
for Gunsmoke at the insistence of a CBS executive’s wife and that a fourth season
of the beloved comedic sitcom had originally been planned? As always, like this video to
show your support, subscribe, and hit the notification bell if you’d
like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!